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The Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Editor’s letterDonald Trump is far from the first president to ask the American people to make painful sacrifices in a time of crisis. In 1942, five months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt called on the nation to embrace a package of tough economic measures needed to secure victory in World War II. This patriotic program of “self-denial,” he explained, would require business owners to accept profits “cut down to a reasonably low level by taxation,” workers to “forgo higher wages,” and everyone to go without “things that we want, things, however, which are not absolutely essential.” Other leaders would follow this template of shared sacrifice. At the height of the Cold War, John F. Kennedy urged Americans to “ask not what your country can do for…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Israel announces indefinite reoccupation of GazaWhat happenedIsrael announced a major escalation of its war in Gaza this week, approving a plan to reoccupy the territory and relocate most of the 2 million Palestinians who live there. The Israel Defense Forces began calling up tens of thousands of reservists for the offensive, which is set to start next week—after President Trump visits Saudi Arabia—unless a deal is reached with Hamas to release the remaining 24 living hostages. The plan calls for the IDF to set up “sterile zones” to confine the Gaza population while the military combs the territory for Hamas fighters and demolishes their tunnels. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the occupation would last indefinitely. “Gaza will be totally destroyed,” said Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and its people “will leave in great numbers to…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Only in AmericaA Shedeur Sanders fan is suing the NFL for $100 million, claiming “emotional distress and trauma” because the quarterback wasn’t picked until the draft’s fifth round. “John Doe,” 55, claims he closely followed Sanders’ two-year college career, witnessing the QB’s “exceptional talent” firsthand. To watch Sanders then fall to the draft’s 144th pick—a clear victim of league collusion, Doe alleges—was so “mentally frustrating” as to warrant damages in the nine figures. An Alabama lawmaker has introduced a bill that would let state inmates be sent to foreign prisons. GOP Rep. Chris Sells said he knows the measure won’t pass, and would be blocked by the courts if it did, but he wants to send a message nonetheless. Sells said the Trump administration’s deportation of migrants to the brutal CECOT facility…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025The U.S. at a glanceChicagoSelf-deportation: In an effort to boost migrant departures, the Trump administration this week began offering $1,000 plus the cost of a flight to undocumented immigrants who willingly leave the U.S. “We’re going to get them a beautiful flight back to where they came from,” said President Trump. At least one Honduran migrant already accepted the offer, flying home from Chicago. Meanwhile, a federal judge in Baltimore this week ruled that 20-year-old Daniel Lozano-Camargo was improperly deported to a Salvadoran prison in March—the second Venezuelan, after Kilmar Abrego Garcia, deported despite court orders blocking their removal. Lozano-Camargo entered the U.S. at 17 and was covered by a 2024 settlement barring the deportation of people who arrived as unaccompanied minors until their asylum claims are adjudicated. The administration argued he would not…4 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025The last fighter from the Warsaw GhettoMichael Smuss is a messenger, said Zev Stub in The Times of Israel. The 99-year-old is the last known living Jewish resistance fighter from the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and believes God “pulled me out of there so I could tell people what happened.” Smuss was 13 when the Nazis invaded Poland, and he was soon forcibly relocated from Lodz to the Warsaw Ghetto, where more than 400,000 Jews were imprisoned before being transported to death camps. There, Smuss worked in a shop repairing Nazi helmets taken from dead soldiers. “To clean the blood out, I needed a thinner that was also good for making Molotov cocktails. I would ask for as much as I could get.” He also gathered weapons from Italian soldiers sent to the ghetto as punishment…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Unraveling autismRFK Jr. has vowed to find the root cause of the ‘autism epidemic’ in months. Scientists have doubts.Is the government studying autism?Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last month launched a “massive testing and research effort” that he says by September will reveal the mystery of what causes autism—and what is behind a surge in diagnosed cases. Kennedy, who has for years promoted the discredited claim that vaccines cause autism (see box), didn’t mention childhood shots when announcing the study. But he proclaimed his certainty that an “environmental toxin” is behind rising case numbers, and said scientists will look at food additives, mold, pesticides, medicines, ultrasound scanning, and other potential factors. “This is a preventable disease,” Kennedy said. “We know that it’s an environmental exposure.” Experts say his claims are…5 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Bondi targetsjournalistsover leaksEditorialThe Washington PostAttorney General Pam Bondi has “fired a warning shot at the free press” not to print leaks that embarrass her boss, said The Washington Post. Bondi last week rescinded a “thoughtful” Justice Department policy implemented by her predecessor, Merrick Garland, that limited “the government’s ability to seek phone or email records and compel testimony from journalists.” That policy was a welcome change after both the Obama administration and the first Trump administration aggressively spied on journalists’ electronic records to identify in-house leakers. The House last year unanimously passed a bill “which effectively would have codified” Garland’s guidelines, but after his November election victory, Trump called on Senate Republicans to kill it. “The president has long been fixated on hunting leakers who make him look bad.” So, Bondi is…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025A moralstain on ournation’s soulEnrique AnayaEl Diario de HoyNayib Bukele is “selling El Salvador to serve as a human dunghill,” said Enrique Anaya. The president who styles himself a dictator has turned “human trafficking and forced disappearances” into the nation’s side hustle. When he first built the giant CECOT prison camp, it was in the name of ending the gang violence that had blighted the country—and it’s true that he brought the murder rate way down. But he did it by rounding up tens of thousands of young men and giving them mere show trials before locking them away in his “dictator’s dungeons” to endure torture. Many of these men were innocent. Now he is taking American money to warehouse deported migrants for Donald Trump. That is patently illegal, because our constitution does not…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Ukraine: Paying a price to keep U.S. aid flowingBy giving President Trump a win, Ukraine has scored “a tactical victory,” said Karl Volokh in Espreso (Ukraine). The minerals deal between Kyiv and Washington, signed last week after months of arduous negotiations, does concede half the profits from joint exploitation of our rare earths and other resources to the U.S. But it also gives the U.S. skin in the game, incentive to ensure that we win the war against the Russian invaders. While Trump may still be frustrated by his inability to quickly end the war, at least he can now say he succeeded in clawing back money “that will cover all the costs of helping Ukraine.” And crucially, Trump seems to have changed his tune on Russia. The president who came into office blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025NotedAt least 216 children died from influenza this flu season, according to the CDC—the highest toll since the swine flu pandemic 15 years ago. While this season’s shots were effective at preventing deaths and hospitalizations from the most common flu strains, the flu vaccination rate for children has sunk from 64 percent to 49 percent over the past five years.Associated Press Global military spending hit a record $2.72 trillion in 2024, up 9.4 percent year over year. That’s the biggest increase since 1988, just before the end of the Cold War. The U.S. was last year’s top spender, with nearly $1 trillion allocated to the military, followed by China, which spent an estimated $314 billion.CNN.com Days after joking that he’d “like to be pope,” President Trump posted an AI-generated image…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025RFK Jr.: A new plan for sabotaging vaccines“We are in the hands of the mad men,” said Charles P. Pierce in Esquire. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is showing that he’s “completely detached from reality,” as he finds new ways to impose his anti-science lunacy on the country. In an interview with Dr. Phil last week, he advised Americans to “do your own research” before vaccinating their kids—code for consulting the kind of internet conspiracy sites that reveal the existence of space aliens, and claim without evidence that vaccines are killing millions. Even more alarming, said Lisa Jarvis in Bloomberg, Kennedy announced plans to change federal policy on approving vaccine boosters and updates to require “wildly expensive” and lengthy full trials, including control groups receiving placebos. That might mean there will be no new Covid booster…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Digital consent: Law targets deepfake and revenge porn“The first major U.S. law tackling AI-induced harm” was born out of the suffering of teenage girls, said Andrew R. Chow in Time. “In October 2023, 14-year-old Elliston Berry of Texas and 15-year-old Francesca Mani of New Jersey each learned that classmates had used AI software to fabricate nude images of them and female classmates.” The software could create virtually any image with the click of a button, and it was being weaponized against women and girls. When Berry and Mani sought to remove the so-called deepfake images, “both social media platforms and their school boards reacted with silence or indifference.” Now a bill is headed to President Trump’s desk that will criminalize the nonconsensual sharing of sexually explicit images—both real and computer generated, of minors or adults—and require that…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Beating a peanut allergy in adulthoodIn the past few years, hundreds of American children have eased or overcome potentially fatal allergies to peanuts by gradually building up their resistance through exposure to tiny amounts. Now scientists say the same treatment, called oral immunotherapy, can also work for adults. In a small British study, 21 allergic adults between ages 18 and 40 were given incrementally increasing doses of peanut protein over several months. The participants took the initial dose of 1.5 to 3 mg of peanut flour—the equivalent of about 1/100th of a peanut—in a hospital to ensure they didn’t have a severe anaphylactic reaction. Those who could tolerate that amount continued on a daily dose at home, with the dosage gradually increasing every two weeks. Once they could get through 50 to 100 mg of…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025The wine-and-fruit dietDrinking champagne and eating strawberries might help ward off heart attacks, reports The Daily Telegraph (U.K.). Millions of people around the world die every year from sudden cardiac arrest caused by an irregular heart rhythm. To delve into potential causes, scientists at Fudan University in China looked at U.K. Biobank data on more than 500,000 people, of whom 3,147 had suffered a heart attack. The researchers identified 56 risk factors and determined that more than half of such heart attacks might be avoidable through easy lifestyle changes. Protective behaviors included eating fruit, having a consistently positive mood, maintaining a healthy weight, keeping blood pressure under control, getting enough sleep, and doing regular exercise. One of the most intriguing findings, the researchers said, was the apparent cardioprotective effect of champagne and…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Also of interest…in family mattersMatriarchby Tina Knowles (One World, $35)With her best-selling new memoir, the mother of Beyoncé and Solange Knowles “finally becomes the star of her own story,” said Stephanie Phillips in The Washington Post. “She delves deeper into her own backstory than ever before,” sharing her journey from teenage girl-group member to mother to beauty salon proprietor to informal manager of her daughters’ rise. Parts of her story “have been conspicuously excised,” but her descriptions of her upbringing “conjure a fully realized world.”Vanishing Worldby Sayaka Murata (Grove, $28)The latest from the Japanese author of Convenience Store Girl is “like The Handmaid’s Tale on acid,” said Madeleine Feeny in The New York Times. In a “disquieting” alternate reality in which virtually all human reproduction occurs via artificial insemination, the narrator is an outsider…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Eric ChurchEric Church’s “dazzling” new album “upends the idea of what country music is, or at least the type of country that made him a Nashville star,” said Joseph Hudak in Rolling Stone. Though it consists of only eight songs, “it is also a masterwork.” Doubling down on the stir he caused last year when he performed with a gospel choir at a California festival, he adds orchestral strings and horns to the mix here, and by embracing his voice’s upper register, reveals himself to be, at 48, a man who’s “in touch with his nakedly vulnerable side.” Evangeline vs. the Machine “cements his legacy as a try-anything artist, one with more in common with David Bowie than with his peers.” But “the beauty of country music is in its simplicity,”…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Thunderbolts*A band of misfits tries to save the MCU.The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 36th movie isn’t “a return to form so much as a much needed, extremely welcome return to a winning formula,” said David Fear in Rolling Stone. The past five years have been bumpy for the franchise, filled with expensive flops. Thunderbolts*—the asterisk gets a jokey explanation in the film—stops the downward spiral by assembling a gang of peripheral characters for a “wildly uneven” but also thrilling romp. “Who needs an off-brand Avengers? Turns out the answer is: You do.” The movie at least proves “that a collection of superhero C-listers can carry the day so long as the actors playing them are good and given something to work with,” said Alison Willmore in NYMag.com. Florence Pugh and David…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Streaming tipsConclaveAs a real-life conclave meets to select a successor to Pope Francis, this recent Best Picture–nominated potboiler is essential viewing. Ralph Fiennes leads a tremendous cast as a sad-eyed British cardinal presiding over the secretive process’s political intrigue. $6 on demandThe Two PopesThe remarkable transfer of the papal throne from Pope Benedict XVI to the far more progressive Francis is dramatized in this excellent 2019 film built around imagined conversations between the two holy men. Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins give inspired performances as the two church leaders. NetflixThe Young PopeIn a world that’s taken a hard right turn, it’s not hard to imagine a Machiavellian like Lenny Belardo emerging from the conclave. Jude Law is terrific in this 2016 limited series as Belardo, who upon his election as pope…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Critics’ choice: Reimagined Mexican-American fareHellbender Queens, N.Y.A life-size faux jaguar sits just above the diners in one corner of Hellbender, and “she’s an apt spirit animal for this protean establishment and its chef,” said Melissa Clark in The New York Times. In Mayan mythology, jaguars travel freely between our world and the next, and Hellbender is equally nimble. “Is it still a bustling bar with exceptionally good food, or is it an exceptional restaurant with late-night vibes?” It’s both, really, because chef Yara Herrera, who trained under Wolfgang Puck and David Chang, cooks so well and so soulfully that Hellbender shape-shifted to showcase her. “Herrera’s playfulness and drive make even the simplest dishes remarkable.” Don’t miss the fruit appetizer, often salted apple slices topped with house-made chamoy, a sauce concocted from pickled fruit and…3 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 20252025 VW Golf GTI: What the critics sayCar and Driver“A Golf GTI without manual transmission is like Queen without Freddie Mercury.” Except maybe that’s not so terrible, because even Adam Lambert–era Queen was “capable of rocking hard.” For the first time in its 50-year history, the original hot hatch is available new only with an automatic transmission. But the 2024 model’s annoying steering wheel is gone, and the absence of the stick shift in the 2025 doesn’t nullify the GTI’s excellent qualities, including its “just-right size,” quick steering, and “lively” 2.0-liter turbo engine.Motor Trend“Sure, we’re a little disappointed the manual transmission is gone,” but the recent gearbox wasn’t best-in-class level, and automatic GTIs have long been quicker from 0 to 60 mph. Helping us move on is that “the soul of the car is still here.” With…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Public benefits: OpenAI drops for-profit planOpenAI will remain under nonprofit control, said Alexis Keenan in Yahoo Finance. The maker of ChatGPT said this week it would halt the plan being pushed by CEO Sam Altman to restructure its unusual governance. “OpenAI began in 2015 as a nonprofit” dedicated to “advancing humanity” through the development of artificial intelligence. “Things got more complicated in 2019” when it established a for-profit subsidiary to raise outside venture capital—and OpenAI became the hottest startup in the world. Altman had hoped to turn OpenAI into a traditional corporation, but the plan was scuttled by legal challenges, including one from Elon Musk, whose competing xAI had offered to buy OpenAI for $97 billion. OpenAI’s for-profit subsidiary will convert into a public benefit corporation, in which outside investors will receive shares.Altman argues that…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Shaky starts: A jobs drought for new gradsNew college grads are struggling to find jobs, said Derek Thompson in The Atlantic. The U.S. economy added 177,000 positions in April, another stronger-than-expected report for the overall labor market. But one group is getting left behind. The “labor conditions for recent college graduates have ‘deteriorated noticeably’ in the past few months,” according to the New York Federal Reserve. Their unemployment rate now stands at 5.8 percent—a full 1.6 percentage points above that of the overall population. It’s hard to pinpoint what’s going on. But we must take seriously the possibility that “artificial intelligence is starting to transform the economy.” Entry-level jobs are the easiest to replace with machines. We’re seeing that happen to paralegal work, consulting, and computer programming.Gen Zers, the cohort born starting in 1997, are “already deeply…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Icons: Buffett’s surprise retirementThere will never be another Warren Buffett, said Jason Zweig in The Wall Street Journal. The Oracle of Omaha, who announced last week that he will step down as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the year, “didn’t merely succeed. He succeeded over one of the longest career spans any investor has ever had.” If you had invested $1,000 in Berkshire when Buffett, took control in 1965, you would have $55 million today. “So far as I know, no one in history has beaten the market by so wide a margin over a period of six decades.” Buffett, 94, is lionized by investors for finding prized fish “where no one else was even looking,” and he poured over corporate reports “the way most people listen to music.”…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 16, 2025U.S., China agree to hold first tariff talksWhat happenedNegotiators from the U.S. and China were set this week to hold the first high-level talks aimed at lowering trade war tensions, as both sides began to feel the pain of punishingly high tariffs. In the month since President Trump imposed 145 percent tariffs on Chinese imports—and Beijing retaliated with 125 percent levies on American goods—U.S.-bound freight from China has plunged 60 percent, said Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport, a global-logistics firm. In China, export orders have sunk to their lowest point since 2022, according to Chinese government surveys. As U.S. retailers sell off their current imported inventory, much of which was stockpiled before the tariffs took effect, consumers will begin to see “price hikes” and “empty shelves,” said Petersen. If the current tariffs hold, thousands of “healthy” businesses…4 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025GOP impasse over a ‘big, beautiful’ budget billWhat happenedHouse Republicans this week voiced doubt they could pass a massive domestic policy bill before Memorial Day, as GOP moderates and fiscal hawks clashed over spending cuts, safety net program overhauls, and tax reforms. Republican lawmakers settled on measures that would increase national security spending by $350 billion but have found themselves at loggerheads on offsetting cuts. A House committee agreed to raise money through oil and gas leases and public land sales. But House Speaker Mike Johnson retreated from a plan to reduce federal Medicaid payments after a dozen moderates rebelled. Blue-state representatives also insisted on lifting the cap on deductions for state and local taxes. GOP lawmakers haggled over how to fit in President Trump’s promises to extend the 2017 tax cuts and introduce tax breaks on…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Good week/bad weekPretty much everyone, after Attorney General Pam Bondi praised President Trump’s vigorous action to keep fentanyl out of America for having saved “258 million lives” in the first 100 days of his second term. That figure was a 117 percent increase over the 119 million lives Bondi had credited Trump with saving only a day earlier.Passion, after Columbia University researchers concluded that celiac sufferers can safely kiss—even deeply, with tongue—people who just ate bread or other gluten-containing food. Only a trivial amount of gluten, they found, is transferred from mouth to mouth in a French kiss.Alternative facts, after Trump Media’s newly launched streaming service, Truth+, quickly filled up with conspiracy-heavy content. One popular film on the platform claims Jesus and Buddha were aliens; another, Lizard People, suggests a race of…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025The world at a glanceBerlinCrackdown on far-right party: Germany classified the Alternative for Germany party as an extremist group last week, after concluding it was racist and anti-Muslim. The designation will give the domestic spy agency broad powers to conduct surveillance on members and leaders of the party, the second largest in the Bundestag, and German states could decide to bar members from holding public service jobs such as judge, police officer, or teacher. AfD leaders sued to block the designation, calling it a “severe blow to German democracy,” and the Trump administration, which met with AfD leaders in February, denounced it as “tyranny in disguise.” The extremist label could increase pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz to ban the party altogether. Merz, whose center-right Christian Democrats won the February election, finally became chancellor this…7 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Ramsey’s second youthBella Ramsey was not a typical teenager, said Tim Lewis in The Observer (U.K.). The British actor struggled to make friends with other children growing up but fit right in with the adult cast of Game of Thrones, which they joined at age 11 in 2013. “Immediately it felt like a place where I belonged, which I’d never felt anywhere else in my life,” says the actor. “I feel like I went from kid to adult. I had to show up on set every day and be responsible and have this very adult job.” Now 21 and the star of HBO’s The Last of Us, Ramsey has moved into a London apartment and has “a small group of friends who are my age—for the first time.” Being diagnosed as neurodiverse…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Trump admitsmigrant canbe returnedGreg SargentThe New RepublicPresident Trump has managed to “badly sabotage” his own legal argument for not bringing Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., said Greg Sargent. For weeks, Trump and other administration officials pretended they could not retrieve the undocumented migrant from a harsh prison in El Salvador, where he was sent without a hearing in March in violation of a previous court order. But Trump admitted in interviews over the last week that he could just pick up the phone and ask El Salvador to return Abrego Garcia—it’s just that “we have lawyers who don’t want to do this.” That admission will no doubt interest federal judge Paula Xinis, who has ordered the administration to explain why it defied her order to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return—an order the…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Viewpoint“Out: the sanctimonious EV or hybrid owner. In: the very, very sorry Tesla driver. With Elon Musk now anathema and anti-Elon vigilantes prowling the twilight for Teslas to vandalize, variations of an ‘I Bought This Before We Knew Elon Was Crazy’ bumper sticker are starting to show up. Online marketplaces also sell one with the message ‘This Tesla Does Not Endorse Fascists.’ Those who recently observed Passover are familiar with the strategy. I hate Elon too is the Tesla driver’s blood on the doorpost, a signal to the hooligans to pass over this Cybertruck and go find yourself a real Egyptian to smite.”Judson Berger in National Review…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Still toodependent onSouth AfricaElvis MboyaThe NamibianNamibia is rich in uranium and diamonds. But we’re still stuck in “South Africa’s economic orbit,” said Elvis Mboya. First colonized by Germany, we were then occupied by South Africa for 75 years. And even though we gained independence in 1990, our dollar is still pegged to the rand and our tariff policy set by Pretoria. If South Africa raises interest rates, “Namibians experience inflation and higher borrowing costs.” And now, we could suffer from South Africa’s foreign policy moves, too. The U.S. is upset over South Africa’s “perceived alignment with Russia”—as evidenced in its refusal to condemn the Ukraine war and its hosting of Russian war games—and if the U.S. were to impose sanctions on it, we would suffer, too. This is simply not tolerable. Our destiny…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Denouncinggenocide isfree speechDorian LynskeyThe GuardianThe Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap is being treated like an enemy of the state, said Dorian Lynskey. The band “touched the third rail of Gaza” last month at Coachella when it accused Israel of genocide. The British press promptly “combed through old videos” of the Belfast band and found two even more incendiary clips, in which the rappers say, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP!” and “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah!” British police are now investigating the three, and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch wants them prosecuted for incitement. That’s a ridiculous overreaction. Certainly the pro-violence remarks “are hard to defend on their merits.” While outrage over Israel’s killings of civilians is understandable, calling for assassination or “celebrating proscribed terrorist groups” crosses a…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Democrats: How to rebuild a damaged brand“Democrats might be tempted to take solace” from President Trump’s tumbling poll numbers, said Noah Rothman in National Review. “They shouldn’t.” While Trump’s net approval rating has sunk more than 5 percentage points since he took office in January, to about 45 percent, Democrats are doing even worse, with only 33 percent of voters viewing the party favorably. Since Democrats held a healthy 6-point lead over Republicans at this point in Trump’s first term, that’s bad news for the party’s 2026 midterm prospects and proof that “the well of mistrust Democrats cultivated in the Biden years goes deep.” To win back voters, top lawmakers have offered only “impotent theatrics.” Sen. Cory Booker and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries staged a pointless 12-hour sit-in on the U.S. Capitol steps to protest…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025The courts: Pushing back against TrumpPresident Trump “surged back to power on a promise to mount a mass deportation campaign,” said Kyle Cheney in Politico. But three months into his second term, much of that effort has been blocked by federal judges who’ve dealt the administration “an astonishing string of initial legal losses” in more than 100 rulings. The courts are showing “increasingly fierce resistance” to his efforts to strip migrants of temporary legal status and deport people without due process. They’ve issued restraining orders to halt his efforts to block refugee admissions and end birthright citizenship, and last week a federal judge in Texas—a Trump appointee—ruled he’d unlawfully invoked wartime powers to deport migrants, and blocked further deportations under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act. These rulings will be appealed and may wind up before…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Innovation of the weekA Colorado-based company is designing the world’s biggest plane, intended to transport wind turbines, said Allison Prang in The New York Times. For almost a decade, Radia has been developing a plane that, at 356 feet long and 79 feet tall, has “a dozen times the cargo volume of a Boeing 747.” It “could be used to aid the military or other businesses.” But the WindRunner’s main purpose is for the wind-power industry. Large wind turbines already span more than 200 feet, making them too big for tunnels, bridges, and even roads; future ones may grow to 330 feet. Despite the giant craft’s size, Radia says it will be able to land on dirt, reducing the logistics required for getting turbines from the plane to a project site.…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025How primates heal so fastWhen male baboons bite each other—which is often—they heal much faster than humans. Watching them, “I was struck by how frequently they sustained injuries,” evolutionary biologist Akiko Matsumoto-Oda of Japan’s University of the Ryukyus tells The New York Times. “And even more by how rapidly they recovered, even from seemingly severe wounds.” To find out why, she compared skin regrowth in 24 people who’d had skin tumors removed with regrowth in wounded chimps, monkeys, and rodents. In humans, skin grew back at a lethargic rate of 0.25 mm per day, while all the other animals achieved a robust 0.62 mm a day. The difference appears to lie in our lack of fur. Stem cells in hair follicles, which usually just make hair, can also produce new skin when necessary, giving…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025A costume of dead bugsA newly discovered species of caterpillar has figured out how to live in a spider’s web without getting eaten, reports The Washington Post. The “bone collector” caterpillar of Hawaii covers itself in a silk case and adorns it with the discarded body parts of other insects so the spider mistakes it for unwanted leftovers. This costume can be extremely elaborate. Researchers spotted one decorated with a weevil head, an ant head, spider legs, parts of fly wing, and bits of beetle wing and abdomen. The caterpillar lugs the case around with its legs sticking out of the front but retreats fully inside when faced with danger, as a turtle does. While nearly all other caterpillars are herbivores, the bone collector eats bugs—albeit mostly scavenged rather than hunted down—and it continues…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Notes to John(Knopf, $32)Joan Didion may not have wanted the material in Notes to John published, said James Wolcott in Air Mail. “But here it is—ready or not.” When the revered author died in 2021, she left behind a file of 150 unnumbered pages, all addressed to her husband, that summarize therapy sessions she attended from 1999 to 2002 when she was worried about her adult daughter’s alcoholism and depression. “It would be misleading to give the impression that Notes to John is a writerly performance akin to The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights,” the related memoirs Didion would subsequently write. But these collected notes are a gift to Didion fans, because they present “a more sympathetic self-portrait” than the polished books do. She’s simply a mother, doing her best…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025RustA movie with a tragic history arrives in theaters.“It’s impossible to watch Rust and avoid thinking about Halyna Hutchins’ unnecessary demise,” said Nick Schager in The Daily Beast. The 42-year-old cinematographer was killed on the movie’s set in 2021 when a prop gun held by star Alec Baldwin fired a live round, and the film was completed two years later at the request of Hutchins’ family. “It’s more than a bit heartbreaking that Rust’s most noteworthy element is its aesthetics,” because that aspect reflects Hutchins’ talent. The rest is “a ho-hum genre throwaway.” Baldwin plays the title character, an outlaw who in 1882 Wyoming springs his 13-year-old grandson from jail before the teenager can be executed for murder, said Owen Gleiberman in Variety. Unfortunately, the star “comes off as an…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025The Week’s guide to what’s worth watchingBad ThoughtsFor anyone who’s ever watched Black Mirror and thought it should be funnier, Tom Segura is answering the call. The comedian’s new series strings together highly cinematic sketches that mix bizarre scenarios with R-rated gags and deadpan delivery. Think a lustful conjoined twin, gym bros who overindulge in a targeted supplement, and a country star who kidnaps fans to harvest hard-times song material. Tuesday, May 13, NetflixOvercompensatingBenito Skinner puts his own twist on lewd college comedies with this new series. The popular comedian stars as a guy who, like himself, arrived on campus as a football-playing valedictorian who didn’t expect so much debauchery and wasn’t yet ready to come out as gay. Co-stars and guests include Connie Britton, Bowen Yang, Megan Fox, and Charli XCX, while Shrinking’s Wally Baram…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Recipe of the week“This substantial salad is weeknight-easy, thanks to canned chickpeas,” said Felisia Tan in Milk Street magazine. By warming the chickpeas before tossing them with the dressing, you’ll help them absorb more flavor. Use panko, not standard, breadcrumbs, for a better texture. And though we like the salad best when warm, it can be served at room temperature if you add the panko mixture and parsley at the last minute.Warm chickpea salad with tomatoes, capers, and toasted breadcrumbs1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved • ¼ cup drained capers • 2 tbsp lemon juice • kosher salt • 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more to serve • 2 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced • ½ cup panko breadcrumbs • 2 15½-oz cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained • ¼ tsp…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025This week: Queen Anne Victorian homes1 Bayport, N.Y. This 1860 seven-bedroom home on Long Island has a wraparound porch, turret, and a fish-scale-shingled gable. The foyer features hand-carved oak details and coffered ceilings, connecting to a formal dining room with the original diamond-glass doors and a living room with a fireplace. The 1.7-acre lot has a pool and a carriage house, and the beaches of the South Shore are about five minutes away. $1,799,000. Joanne Schloen, Howard Hanna Coach Realtors/Luxury Portfolio International, (516) 318-92432 Berkeley, Calif. A colorful renovated 1901 five-bedroom in the Ocean View neighborhood features a diamond-shingled gable with a sunburst decoration. Inside are a vivid stained-glass window, reclaimed chestnut floors, an open kitchen with a Thermador range, and a dining area with French doors that open to a deck. The property includes…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Crypto: Abu Dhabi fund in $2 billion deal with TrumpAn Abu Dhabi investment firm announced last week that it would use Trump-backed cryptocurrency to make a $2 billion investment in the Binance exchange, said David Yaffe-Bellany in The New York Times. Zach Witkoff, a co-founder of the Trump family crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, made the announcement with President Trump’s son Eric at a crypto conference in Dubai. “Virtually every detail contained a conflict of interest.” The Abu Dhabi state-backed firm would need to buy World Liberty’s so-called stablecoin USD1 in order to pay Binance, handing Trump’s company “$2 billion in deposits to invest.”The Fed: Central bank holds rates steadyThe Federal Reserve remains in “wait-and-see mode,” said Hamza Shaban in Yahoo Finance. Officials at the central bank held interest rates steady at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent for a…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025What experts missed about free tradeJoe NoceraThe Free PressThe first time I thought I might be wrong about unlimited free trade was when my brother-in-law’s factory shut down, said Joe Nocera. It was back in 2006. He was “forced to close his small costume jewelry factory in Providence, Rhode Island, because Chinese manufacturers were stealing his designs and selling them for a third of the price.” Until then I’d been sure that globalization was creating wealth for all. At the time, questioning unfettered trade was seen as the province of “barbarians” or fools. Economists assumed that “people who saw their factories close would just move and find a job somewhere else.” That didn’t happen. Experts in New York and Washington saw the benefits of “cheap goods.” What they missed was how the policies that sent…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025The former leftistwho morphed intoa MAGA firebrandDavid Horowitz had the zeal of the convert. Born into a family of card-carrying communists, he started out a leftist but evolved into a far-right pundit. At first, he was a neocon, denouncing political correctness and adopting the Bush Doctrine of interventionism. Eventually, though, he became more extreme, railing against Muslims and Democrats and advocating a muscular, even bellicose approach to politics. An early MAGA supporter, he wrote a 2017 best-seller on President Trump’s “plan to save America” and echoed false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Conservatives, Horowitz wrote, “must begin every confrontation by punching progressives in the mouth.”Horowitz “was raised in a crucible of radicalism,” said the Washington Examiner. Though his parents, both New York City teachers, left the American Communist Party in the late 1950s, “the…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025The Week ContestThis week’s question: Wellness maven Gwyneth Paltrow recently confessed that she’s eating dairy and carbs again after growing “a little sick of” her strict yearslong paleo diet. If Hollywood were to make a movie about an actress who gets a new lease on life after rediscovering the joys of bread and cheese, what would it be titled?Last week’s contest: Wild chimpanzees have for the first time been filmed getting drunk together on fermented breadfruit, suggesting humans aren’t the only primates who use alcohol to aid social bonding. If David Attenborough were to make a wildlife documentary about these booze-loving simians, what would it be titled?THE WINNER: Brew Planet Benjamin Winter, Richmond, Va.SECOND PLACE: Stumble in the Jungle Moe Cougher, Olathe, Kan.THIRD PLACE: The Missing ClinkLarry Rifkin, Glastonbury, Conn.For runners-up and…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 16, 2025It wasn’t all badAfter partnering with Formula 1 to make toy-size cars, Lego wondered if it could build a real car, too. Over 22,000 hours of work, designers set 10 plastic bodies made of 400,000 bricks each atop steel-frame chassis equipped with electric motors. The fleet, running at a maximum speed of 13 miles per hour, completed the F1 prerace parade at the Miami International Autodrome last week. Unlike regular Formula 1 cars, the Lego machines were built with tandem seats, so both drivers on each F1 team could ride together. When Laura Coleman-Day’s husband grew sick after a stem cell transplant for leukemia, she prepared to run a marathon to raise money for a stem cell donor-matching charity. But after her husband died, Coleman-Day came up with a new project: She would…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025‘Two dolls’: Can Trump sell Americans on austerity?There may not be much under the tree for America’s children this Christmas, said Chris Cillizza in his Substack newsletter, but “Donald Trump just handed Democrats a huge gift.” In last week’s televised Cabinet meeting, the president shrugged off concerns that his trade war with China could lead to higher prices and empty shelves. “Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know?” he told reporters. “And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more.” Not since Dr. Seuss’ Grinch has a strangely hued public figure been so upbeat about the prospect of children going without toys. And with millions of average Americans “already struggling to meet their basic needs,” it would be “campaign malpractice” for Democrats not to run this “out-of-touch”…3 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025In other newsSupreme Court reinstates ban on transgender troopsThe Supreme Court ruled this week that the Trump administration can enforce its ban on transgender troops in the military, overturning a lower court’s order. The high court’s three liberal justices dissented to the unsigned ruling, which will remain in place while litigation continues. President Trump issued an executive order barring transgender people from serving in the military on his first day in office, reversing a Biden-era policy allowing them to serve openly. The Defense Department implemented the order in February, but a group of active service members, a person looking to enlist, and an advocacy group sued, arguing the order violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause. A federal judge blocked the ban in March, ruling it was not needed for “unit cohesion, good…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Why Coogler eyes longevityRyan Coogler isn’t too young to think about his legacy, said Jelani Cobb in The New Yorker. The director of box office smashes Creed, Black Panther, and Sinners says he “did not see a whole lot of old Black men” while growing up in Oakland. Coogler’s maternal grandfather died before he was born; one of his Bay Area idols, rapper Tupac Shakur, was murdered at age 25 in 1996; and his mentor, the Boyz n the Hood filmmaker John Singleton, died of complications from a stroke at 51 in 2019. Singleton’s death hit hard for Coogler, now 38, and for years he says he struggled to imagine a career for himself that was both productive and lengthy. But he’s started to think about white artists who continue to create and…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025In the newsPrince Harry said last week that he doesn’t know how long his cancer-stricken father has left to live because King Charles III won’t speak to him. In a BBC interview, Harry blamed Charles for having his publicly funded police protection reduced in the U.K. and said he could no longer bring his wife, Meghan Markle, and their two children from California to visit “my homeland” because of threats to their safety. “Ultimately, this whole thing could be resolved through [Charles],” he said. “It’s really quite sad.” Harry admitted some members of his family “will never forgive” him for writing a tell-all memoir, Spare, but said he “would love reconciliation” with his royal clan. “There’s no point continuing to fight any more,” Harry, 40, told the BBC. “Life is precious.” Royal…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Fetterman’smental-healthstrugglesBen TerrisNew York magazineSeveral of Sen. John Fetterman’s current and former staffers say the Pennsylvania Democrat’s mental health has deteriorated and are questioning “his fitness to be a senator,” said Ben Terris. A gruff, 6-foot-8 advocate for the working class, Fetterman gained national prominence when he ran for the Senate. He won despite suffering a stroke during the campaign that limits his ability to process spoken words. After getting psychiatric help for emotional problems related to the stroke, he had an energetic start in office. But staffers say he soon stopped taking medication and consulting with his doctors, and his behavior became “bizarre.” Fetterman was alternately manic and deeply withdrawn, and has been videoed yelling at a constituent and arguing with airline staff about wearing a seatbelt. His chief of…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025It must be true…A climber who had to be airlifted from high on Mount Fuji needed rescue again when he returned four days later to retrieve his cellphone. The unidentified 27-year-old, a Chinese student living in Japan, suffered altitude sickness while climbing on a trail at 10,000 feet above sea level, and summoned a rescue helicopter with an emergency call. After he climbed back up to fetch the phone, another climber found him on the ground, shaking. This time authorities took him down in a stretcher. A speedboat racing at 200 mph on an Arizona lake became airborne, flying 60 feet into the air into a backward flip in front of stunned spectators. Two racers inside the boat, who were protected by harnesses and helmets, suffered fractured ribs and a fractured knee but…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025How they see us: Trump rescues the Australian left“Cyclone Donald” has struck again, said Matthew Knott in The Age (Australia). President Trump’s tariffs and bullying have stirred up patriotic anger here, just as they did in Canada, and once again a center-left party has turned what looked like certain defeat into a thumping triumph. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led his Labor Party to a landslide re-election victory this week, trouncing the center-right Liberal National Coalition and its leader, Peter Dutton. By “accusing Dutton of wanting to take Australia down an American-style path on health care and wages,” Albanese managed to shake off blame for the post-Covid inflation that characterized his first term. It’s partly Dutton’s own fault, of course. While not a Trump clone, he “dabbled in MAGA-style politics,” appointing an Elon Musk–style government efficiency czar and praising…3 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025How muchfreedom havewe given up?Mikkel NeiiendamInformationWelcome to the surveillance state, said Mikkel Neiiendam. Danes are already watched everywhere we go, with more than 1.5 million security cameras trained on the doings of just 6 million inhabitants. The police use a platform called Gotham—developed by Palantir, a company with ties to the Trump administration—that scours local and international databases. The technology helps them “prevent crime through so-called predictive policing, in which algorithms identify possible future perpetrators and hot spots for crime.” The names alone are creepy: Palantir after Tolkien’s “magical and corrupting” crystal ball, Gotham after the crime-ridden, authoritarian city in the Batman universe. Now it’s about to get even worse. A new bill would let police sift through data from the health care system, social services, and other public sources, so they can profile…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Education: Can public schools be religious?The Supreme Court appears ready to “bury what remains of church-state separation,” said Mark Joseph Stern in Slate. During oral arguments last week, the court’s conservative majority signaled sympathy toward a bid by two Catholic dioceses in Oklahoma to create the nation’s first taxpayer-funded religious charter school. Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general, Gentner Drummond, sued to block the opening of St. Isidore of Seville, arguing a religious public school would violate state law and the First Amendment’s prohibition of government establishment of religion. But to the conservative justices, those arguments amount to little more than “anti-religious bigotry.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh complained that Oklahoma’s charter program was “open to all comers”—including schools focused on science and Chinese language—“except religion.” If, as seems likely, the court compels Oklahoma to fund St. Isidore, it…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Bytes: What’s new in techApple faces order to ease competitionAn infuriated federal judge rebuked Apple and accused the company of undermining her order to open iPhone in-app payments to more companies, said Tripp Mickle in The New York Times. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ demand that Apple ease its grip on app payments caps “a five-year antitrust case brought by Epic Games,” the maker of Fortnite, “to change the power that Apple wields” over app developers. She had already “ordered Apple to allow apps to provide users with external links” to avoid paying the 30 percent “Apple tax” on in-app sales. “Instead, Rogers said, Apple created a new system that forced apps to pay a 27 percent commission,” as well as using pop-up screens to “discourage customers” from using external links. Rogers said Apple’s vice…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Why youth are getting colon cancerThe sharp rise in colon cancer among young people may be caused by a childhood infection, reports NBCNews.com. The culprit is a toxin called colibactin, which is produced by E. coli and other harmful bacteria and causes DNA damage to colon cells. A new study of nearly 1,000 cancer patients from 11 countries has found that colibactin damage was present in about half the patients who developed colon cancer before age 40. Such patients were 3.3 times more likely to exhibit colibactin damage than those diagnosed after age 70. And most of them appear to have been infected before age 10, since most of the DNA mutations had already occurred by that age. The researchers believe an increase in colibactin infections could be partly to blame for the surge in…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves(Penguin, $30)“If you came of age around the late 1990s and early aughts, prepare to have the balloon string of sentimentality pried from your grip,” said Maya Salam in The New York Times. Those years were cruel to American women in ways that warped the culture we live with still, and Atlantic critic Sophie Gilbert appears “intent on snapping Millennials out of any instinct to idealize the decades that shaped us.” At the movies, as Gilbert points out, hits like American Pie and The Hangover made sexism a joke. In music, opinion-free pop idols like Britney Spears replaced outspoken rebels like Madonna. Degrading online porn, meanwhile, became ubiquitous, and all these strands contributed to a disdain for women that women themselves were taught to internalize. Gilbert’s “blistering, sobering” book connects…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Best books…chosen by Marya E. GatesFilm writer Marya E. Gates is the author of the book Cinema Her Way: Visionary Film Directors in Their Own Words, in which interviews are paired with a history of women filmmakers. Below, Gates names six of her favorite books about such artists.Without Lying Down by Cari Beauchamp (1998). This essential text focuses on the life of pioneering screenwriter Frances Marion, once the highest-paid professional in her field, while seamlessly weaving in the careers of other women in early Hollywood, including stars Marie Dressler and Mary Pickford. The book serves as a business primer, using Marion’s career as a lens to track the industry’s growing pains.Universal Women by Mark Garrett Cooper (2010). Cooper’s book traces the history of 11 remarkable women who worked as directors at Universal Studios between 1912…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Trump vs. the arts: Fresh strikes against PBS and the NEA“Beating up on Sesame Street isn’t necessarily the flex the GOP thinks it is,” said Brian Lowry in The Wrap. But last week, President Trump drew cheers from his base when he sharpened his assault on PBS and NPR amid a wider culture war offensive. In a May 1 executive order, Trump demanded a cessation of federal funding to both media nonprofits “to the maximum extent allowed by law.” The president may in fact have no authority to end the $500 million in annual congressional funding that flows to PBS and NPR, as leaders of those organizations quickly argued. But while Trump and his allies claim that the cut would be justified because PBS and NPR’s news and public affairs programming is biased, any across-the-board reduction achieved by the president…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Model/ActrizOn its sophomore album, the Brooklyn indie-rock band Model/Actriz steps away from the “raucous and eruptive” sound of its debut in favor of music that’s “icy, clipped, and clean,” said Sasha Geffen in Pitchfork. As the foursome leans further into influences such as Circus-era Britney Spears and lo-fi electronica duo Crystal Castles, the result “still has teeth,” but now those teeth are “oh-so-white.” Once again, singer Cole Haden explores the challenges presented by his queerness, with songs about the clash between self-consciousness and the open pursuit of desire. On the harrowing “Cinderella,” he recounts how, at age 5, he wanted a Disney-princess birthday party but stopped himself from asking and wound up feeling devastated. Pirouette “thrives on thrilling contrasts,” said Alexis Petridis in The Guardian. The band has a penchant…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Just in Time“As star vehicles go, Jonathan Groff is currently seizing the wheel of a top-down Aston Martin,” said Naveen Kumar in The Washington Post. Groff, who won a Tony last year for his star turn in Merrily We Roll Along, has been nominated again for his current portrayal of Bobby Darin, the mid-century pop crooner who died of a heart condition in 1973 at 37. But while the story told by Just in Time hits no unexpected beats, the nightclub setting, the onstage band, and Groff’s charisma “set this bio-musical apart from even its most successful predecessors.”Giving his all to such hits as “Splish Splash,” “Beyond the Sea,” and “Mack the Knife,” Groff sounds better than he ever has, said Robert Hofler in The Wrap. Not that he sounds anything like…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025DusterViewers of a certain age will forever think of Josh Holloway as Sawyer from Lost. Fifteen years after the final episode of that seminal series, Holloway has reconnected with co-creator J.J. Abrams for this throwback of an action crime series, set in 1972. Holloway brings his familiar stringy blond hair to the lead role: a wisecracking getaway driver whose preferred chariot is, you guessed it, a sweet Plymouth Duster. Our hero’s adrenaline-filled life gets even tenser when the FBI’s first Black female special agent, played by Rachel Hilson, enlists him in taking down the crime syndicate that employs him. Thursday, May 15, Max…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Wine: Alsace’s nature kickIn the lovely French border region of Alsace, “there’s a quiet revolution happening,” said Aleks Zecevic in Wine Enthusiast. Though Alsace continues to produce world-class rieslings and pinot noirs, its winemakers are also “going biodynamic, experimenting with skin contact, playing around with amphora aging.” Exciting wines such as these are “pushing the edges of what Alsace can be.”2022 Domaine Charles Frey Frankenstein ($37). This “rich and layered” biodynamic white offers “a lovely mesh of dried papaya, mint, clementine peel, and currant flavors.”2021 Domaine Pfister Macération Pinot Gris ($49). In this “minerally” pinot gris—another low-intervention wine—a touch of thyme leads to “finely meshed raspberry, rose, pastry, and lemon curd notes.”2022 Domaine Geschickt Obi Wine Keno Bulle ($45). Say hello to “a supple, vibrant sparkler, with great aromas and flavors of tea,…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Four ways to dry flowersAir drying: When cut flowers are at peak bloom, strip away leaves and use twine or elastics to hang them upside down from a clothes hanger or anything similar. Let dry for two to three weeks in well-ventilated space with no direct sunlight. Oven drying: Lay flowers on a baking sheet and place them in a 200-degree oven. Check them after an hour and then keep watch. They’re usually ready in about two. Pressing: Find a heavy book and place flowers between its pages, using tissue paper, wax paper, or paper towels to protect the book’s pages. Shut the book, pile other books on top, and let pressed flowers dry for a week or two. Silica gel: Buy enough silica gel from a craft store to bury the flowers you’re…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025The bottom lineThe U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs in April, making another solid month of employment gains. Despite cuts in federal jobs, the government sector overall, including state and local, was up 10,000 jobs.CNN.com The value of announced stock buybacks in the U.S. reached $233.8 billion in April, the second-highest monthly tally in records going back to 1984, according to data compiled by Birinyi Associates. Apple, Visa, Wells Fargo, Delta, and 3M all announced share repurchase plans.Bloomberg New orders from U.S. factories hit $618.8 billion in March, up 4.3 percent from a month earlier. There was an especially sharp 27 percent month-over-month increase for orders of transportation equipment.The Wall Street Journal Tariffs could add $900 million to Apple’s costs this quarter, CEO Tim Cook said. About 90 percent of Apple’s production of…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025SpaceX’s Starbase—in Texas, not on MarsThe world’s richest man now has a city he can call his own, said Madlin Mekelburg in Bloomberg. Residents of a small patch of Texas voted 212 to 6 to incorporate a new city, called Starbase, home to Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, and its employees. “Virtually all the inhabitants within the 1.45-square-mile territory” along the coast at the southern tip of Texas “are Musk’s employees at the massive manufacturing facility that dominates the beachfront town.” In seven years, SpaceX has transformed “the once sleepy retirement community” known as Boca Chica “into a thriving production site” for space-bound rockets, complete with a “massive bronze bust of Musk.” He first floated the idea of incorporating his company town in 2021, after efforts to expand housing for his employees were rejected by…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Charity of the weekNearly 13 percent of U.S. veterans experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives. Since 2007, the nonprofit Guitars for Vets (guitars4vets.org) has provided veterans with new acoustic guitars, guitar accessories, and guitar lessons for free. Funded by local medical centers and the Department of Veterans Affairs, the organization has directly supported 9,000 veterans across the country through local chapters in all 50 states. The lessons are designed in a way that students can progress at their own pace. Program students have seen their PTSD symptoms improve and depression symptoms resolve. Community is at the forefront of the G4V mission: Group events are held every month for veterans to talk and play music with one another. Graduates have stayed connected with the program, performing at local shows…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Riyadh gives up on $100 a barrel oilJavier BlasBloombergWhy is Saudi Arabia driving down the price of oil? asked Javier Blas. Oil is currently at roughly $62 a barrel, far from the $100 a barrel the Saudis once tried to sustain. Yet Riyadh last week led the eight producers of OPEC+ to vote to increase production for the second straight month. “Ostensibly, the kingdom is trying to re-establish discipline among its rogue producers”—Kazakhstan, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates—via a price war. But it’s worried about a price war with the United States, too. “In 2014–16, Saudi Arabia flooded the market to crush U.S. shale producers.” It doesn’t want to be forced into that gambit again with President Trump—who campaigned on a revival of U.S. energy—heading to Riyadh in mid-May for talks on defense guarantees, weapons contracts,…1 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025The protean director who made ‘First Blood’Ted Kotcheff hated repeating himself. Over a six-decade career, the Canadian director made 17 films of remarkable range. After directing the terrifying Australian thriller Wake in Fright (1971), he turned to The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974), a coming-of-age comedy about a young Jewish hustler in Montreal. In just a 10-year span, he bounced from North Dallas Forty (1979), a dark look at pro football, to the Vietnam War flick Uncommon Valor (1983) to the slapstick corpse comedy Weekend at Bernie’s (1989), in which two insurance company workers try to make their murdered boss appear alive. He also made romantic dramas, Westerns, mysteries, and even a biopic. But his biggest box office success by far was First Blood (1982), which introduced John Rambo, a haunted Vietnam vet played by Sylvester…2 minThe Week Magazine|May 16, 2025Disappearing into Russia’s abyssA Ukrainian journalist tried to expose Russia’s brutal detention system, said Cate Brown in The Washington Post. She ended up dying in its most notorious prison.VIKTORIIA ROSHCHYNA SET out to report on claims that Russia was operating a network of unofficial detention centers in occupied Ukraine. But in August 2023 she disappeared into one herself. For months, her whereabouts remained unknown.The body bag was delivered to Kyiv on a flatbed truck. There was an alphanumeric code stamped across the white shroud, followed by four Cyrillic letters: СПАС—a Russian abbreviation denoting “extensive damage to the coronary arteries.”For most of the 757 Ukrainian bodies exchanged for Russian dead on Feb. 14, the Russian authorities had provided their counterparts in Kyiv with names of the deceased, nearly all male soldiers, and the dates…9 min
